iPhoneclub (translation) says that Apple’s rumored plan to build a new data center in Netherlands are now focusing on the town of Eemshaven.

Eemshaven is an ideal location due to the high-speed transatlantic fiber optic cable link to the USA. Google already has a 10,000 square meter data center in the town, and it is believed that Apple has already been granted outline planning permission for its own center …

Although the cost of the center has not been revealed, a comparable sized data center being built by Microsoft in the same area is known to be costing €2B ($2.7B). The center is expected to create between 150 and 200 new jobs.

Apple achieved 100 percent renewable energy sources for its data centres as of last year, a record which will be easy to maintain in a windy part of the Dutch coastline which is blanketed with wind-turbines.

Surely Iceland would make more sense for a company so focused on renewable energy, ground sourced thermal energy in abundance and naturally cooled ambient air requiring little filtration. Seems totally logical.
Perhaps the data links just aren’t up to it?

The Netherlands has the AMS IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange), one of the earliest and biggest Internet Exchanges in the world and therefore an ideal location for connectivity (which is the foremost important consideration for locating a datacenter).

Also Microsoft is planning a billion dollar data center in the Netherlands. So Google, Apple and Microsoft choose this relative small country. The internet infrastructure in the Netherlands is very good.